Schaumburg's basketball future looks bright
Schaumburg's boys basketball team had the right mix of youth and experience for a second consecutive run of postseason success to a sectional final.
And the return of sophomore starters Kyle Bolger and 6-foot-5 Jimmy Lundquist and junior Christian Spandiary for a third varsity season bodes well for the future for the Saxons. Junior Mike Mallett also saw significant action this season and juniors Thomas Byrne and Joe Faleni also played some meaningful minutes.
"We're a really young team," said Lundquist after Friday's 53-52 Class 4A New Trier sectional final loss to Niles North. "We're losing five seniors but we're gaining a lot of new talent and we have a lot of returning guys. Next year should be a successful year."
The Saxons also won a share of the Mid-Suburban West title with Fremd and Barrington. Javon McDonald, one of the departing seniors, also has high expectations for the future.
"They have a nice team coming back and I'll definitely be supporting them," McDonald said. "I'm looking for them to definitely do some damage in the future."
McDonald and classmates Kurt Kempema, Mark Bielanski, Roger Lane and Elliot Rieves helped set some standards for the returnees to meet and exceed.
"They really helped us out when we were down," Lundquist said. "Javon especially took us under his wing and helped us. Kurt did the same with the big guys."
McDonald ended up having a significant impact in his two years at Schaumburg after he transferred from Elgin Academy.
"Our goal was to get farther than we did last year," said McDonald, who was a captain with Bielanski and Kempema. "We couldn't accomplish it but I think we left a pretty good legacy."
What, Niles North worry? Amid the postgame celebration and mayhem, a Niles North fan came up to coach Glenn Olson and said, "I was worried."
Olson replied with a smile: "They had me worried, too."
That's what a 16-point, third-quarter deficit will do to people. Especially for a program that had never been to a sectional championship.
But Niles North rallied for its 16th win in 17 games and increased its single-season school victory record to 24.
"We're used to being down and coming back in a lot of games," said Niles North senior star Abdel Nader, who scored 13 of his game-high 23 points in the final 12:53. "That's nothing new for us. We just stepped it up and worked and did it."
The concerns that grew as Schaumburg's lead did the same to 36-20 were an offense that was out of synch and mounting foul problems that provided no line of defense for 15-for-16 free-throw shooting in the first half.
"We never got into any rhythm offensively and that's a credit to Schaumburg," Olson said after the Vikings missed 21 of 26 shots and committed 10 turnovers en route to the 16-point deficit. "Early on we took some bad shots and we weren't patient at all.
"We had to go back to sharing the ball a little more in the second half. Our offense wasn't pretty at all but defensively we hung in there."
Which the Vikings hope to continue doing tonight and into this weekend.
"It feels great but we're not done," Nader said. "We're going to try to get a trip down to Peoria. We're not done yet."
Hoops as healing: Getting away from basketball wasn't the way Schaumburg senior Javon McDonald was going to get over Friday's heartbreaking loss.
"Tomorrow I'll be in the gym getting ready for next year," McDonald said Friday night. "It was tough tonight, but I have to do something to get my mind off it so I'll get back into the gym."
McDonald is still looking at his college options for next year.
Notably quotable: "We're not used to this." Niles North teacher and Hersey baseball assistant Kevin Kelley with a smile as he watched the wild postgame scene.
"Never a dull moment." Niles North assistant coach Don Olson, the dad of head coach Glenn Olson, who has seen his share of drama in more than 50 years around high school sports.